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Quality vs Quantity...

Thursday, 15 December 2016 23:10

By Bobby McGee (Usa Triathlon Magazine)

As an age-group triathlete, you don’t have to run high mileage to be a good triathlon runner

If you want to run well off the bike, be bike fit. No amount of run training is going to deliver a great run for you in a triathlon without fully considering bike demands. Too often triathletes expect run training without sufficient conditioning work in the saddle to deliver a great run off the bike. Three-time ITU world champion and great runner Peter Robertson said he never fared well in major races when he was super run fit, but he ran great when he was bike fit. The idea is to be fitter than the bike ride requires in order to buffer your ability to run....

Then run training is all about quantity of quality. This “quality” has many components.

Consistency
Run training without serious consistency is worthless, no matter how good it is. It is far better to string together six to 12 weeks of really consistent training through pacing and good sense than to post some magical single sessions that leave you busted up by being either injured or ill. Basic easy running (not slow, but easy relative to your physiology), not only allows pure physiological development of endurance, but prepares legs to deal with specific quality. This should constitute at least 80 percent of your run training. Remember, duration makes endurance, not intensity. Build longer runs only up to where you can effectively run again two days later.

Run fast enough in this period to teach the legs to run at goal race pace and better than race pace. Simple, right? But not so fast! During this phase these bits of speed work should be under 9 seconds and have at least 50 seconds recovery between each, for a maximum of six repetitions. For longevity’s sake stay away from long quality repeats.

Once the body is accustomed to regular running without breaking down and not negatively impacting the quality and quantity of your bike and swim workouts and the season’s major races are some six to eight weeks away, it is time to start the quality work. READ MORE